Home Truths with Chris Price, the owner of Waterfront Café- Bar-Bistro in Benson for 29 years, was born and brought up in South Oxfordshire. To find out more about his childhood home, where he lives now and his dream home read on.......

My childhood home was a semi-detached chalet bungalow in Watlington. I lived there with my parents and sister till I was 18. I was lucky enough to have my own bedroom and I remember it being a very comfortable house although it was very cold in winter because we did not have any central heating.

The first house I ever bought was also in Watlington not far from where I grew up. The council built a number of houses and only local people could buy them. I bought the property off-plan and it was wonderful to see it being built. It was two up, two down but it was my first home and very special to me. I had to have two jobs just to be able to pay the mortgage and we furnished it with a few new pieces of furniture but mainly with items our families gave us. I lived there for a number of years but the only thing I did was put a shed in the garden.

I now live in Caversham in a Victorian detached property that is more than 100 years old. It has got lots of wonderful features like fireplaces, high ceilings and decorative architraves. It’s by far the oldest house I have ever lived in and the best bit about it is having an open fire in winter.

Although I currently live in an old property I think my dream home would be something more contemporary in a semi-rural area. You can’t beat this part of the world. I would not like to live in the middle of nowhere but I would not like to live in the middle of a city either. A big open plan kitchen would be the focal point of the house and I would definitely have open fires. The garden would be very important too. It would be lovely to have indoor swimming pool and an area where I could dine outside with family and friends. It would all be beautifully laid out and there would be an area where I could keep chickens and ducks. A home is somewhere I like to relax.